Making It Different
by HipsterMaybe
Summary: When Danny's is badly injured in an explosion, Steve is forced to relive memories of his past in order to save him. Rated T. I don't own anything but the plot.


**Hey ya'll! I'm still thinking out my next chapter for Patient Zero, so while I wait for inspiration, enjoy this little product of my over active imagination.**

Danny whistled a little tune as he walked out to the Camaro. It was a good day, he decided. No new cases, he had had Grace this morning, and tonight they were all going to Steve's for a barbecue. He had finished all of his paperwork and was now going out to his car to retrieve the RPG Steve had left in there after their last case and return it to the arms locker. Once he assumed he was within range, he pressed the button on his keys to open the trunk. Then, his world exploded in fire and pain.

H

5

0

Steve felt the shock wave shake the building before he heard the blast. Once the glass had finished raining down on them, he ran to the window. He felt his heart drop. There was a crater where the Camaro should be and he couldn't see Danny anywhere. Chin and Kono were right behind him as he sprinted down to the parking lot. He felt the heat of the fire and the smells of the blast brought back unwanted memories. His eyes cast around for his partner. Finally, he looked behind him and saw Danny slumped against the wall, the blast having slammed him into the building. Chin was already calling for help, so he and Kono ran to Danny. They laid him flat, and then took in his grisly appearance. His face was covered in blood from a large gash near his temple and that whole side of his face was bruised. Steve could see burns on his arms. What worried him the most were the shrapnel wounds. God, there was so much blood. Kono stared at Danny, unsure of how to help. She settled on checking his pulse and breathing.

"Pulse is weak and erratic, breathing is ragged and shallow." She said, her voice trembling. Steve forced himself to remember his training. In his time with the SEALs, Steve had seen and treated dozens of blast victims. Carefully, he pulled out the bigger pieces so they could apply pressure without inflicting further damage. He pulled off his button up shirt and motioned for Kono to do the same, the he placed the wadded up clothing in her hands and placed her firmly on the wounds in Danny's torso.

"Kono, I need you to keep the pressure on the wounds here while I stabilize the others, can you do that?" he asked gently, knowing all too well the horror of seeing this for the first time. She nodded and Chin came running up.

"EMS is twenty minutes out. There's some big accident and they've all been diverted, but their sending one as soon as they can. What can I do to help?" he asked, knowing that Steve would know best how to help Danny. Steve assessed the rest of Danny's injuries.

"I need to cauterize the artery in his neck and make sure blood is getting to his brain. Chin, do you have a lighter?"

"In my car." And he ran off to grab it. Steve focused on Danny's leg, which appeared to have a severed artery. There was a large shard of metal protruding from Danny's thigh, but Steve was hesitant to remove it in case he tore the artery even more. Removing his belt, Steve cinched it tightly around his partner's thigh, forming a makeshift tourniquet. Chin returned and Steve took the lighter.

"Chin, hold his shoulders. This is going to hurt him and I might make it worse if he moves." Once Danny was securely pinned, Steve burned the torn carotid artery closed. As expected Danny moaned in pain, coming awake with a harsh gasp and jerking beneath Chin. Though it broke Steve's heart to cause Danny pain, he kept going until the area was under control. After directing Chin to apply pressure to the gash on Danny's forehead, Steve took one of Danny's clammy hands in his own.

"You with me Danno?" he asked. He needed to know how bad Danny's head injury was.

"Steve?" he whispered weakly.

"Right here. How ya doing?"

"I don't…what?" Danny asked, confusion obvious in his uneven eyes. Steve took Danny's face in his hands to help ground him.

"You were in an explosion. I need you to tell me what hurts."

"Hurts?" he asked, but then broke off into a groan of pain as the pain made itself known and the shock could no longer numb his body. He writhed in agony on the asphalt. "Steve…" he gasped out desperately.

"I'm here. You're going to be fine Danny. You'll be okay." He said, trying to reassure his as best he could. Danny's eyes began to close and Steve tapped him on the cheeks.

"Stay with me buddy. Help is comin', so just stay with me." Steve pleaded.

"C-can't. Tired…sorry…take care…of Gracie…Danno…loves…her." His breath hitched, then stopped altogether. Not missing a beat, Steve began CPR. For five very long minutes, Danny remained still and his lips turned blue. Then the EMTs arrived and, after several tries, were able to bring him back. Steve held his partner's hand the whole way to the hospital, praying to God to keep Danny alive. Danny was soon rushed off to surgery. For ten _very_ long hours, they waited. Then an exhausted looking doctor came out to greet them. He explained the severity of Danny's head wound. He had a cracked skull and intracranial bleeding that had required a hole to be drilled in his head. Then they had removed all the shrapnel and staunched the bleeding. Finally, they wrapped the burns.

"In short, Detective Williams has a long road ahead of him, but he's alive because of you Commander. I can only guess how you knew to treat him, but it worked. He would have died without you." The doctor left and led them to Danny's room in the ICU. Steve settled himself into the chair, and waited. He waited for three weeks. It took three weeks for Danny to open his eyes again. When they did, Steve was up in an instant. Danny had been off the ventilator for three days now and the CT scans confirmed that the swelling in his brain had gone down. He gripped Danny's hand tightly, just like in the parking lot.

"Danny? You with me buddy?"

"Uhhhhnnnnhhhh…" Came Danny's eloquent reply. After a moment, he spoke with real words this time. "Wha' 'appened?" he asked groggily. "I get shot or somethin'?" Dannys' voice was slurred and hoarse, which scared Steve.

"You were in an explosion." Steve paused, seeing the evident confusion on Danny's face. "Danny, I need you to answer a few questions for me. Can you do that?" Danny gave a small nod. "I need you to tell me your full name, my full name, where you are, and where you work." Danny screwed up his face in thought for a moment, then spoke.

"My name is Daniel Jay Williams. If I am not mistaken, you are a Neanderthal animal." This caused Steve to grin.

"What's my name, Danno?"

"Lieutenant Commander Steven John McGarrett. Specific enough for ya babe? And I'm pretty sure I work with Five-0 here in the shining city of Honolulu. How'd I do?" he asked. He was still slurring his words, but he was also still a world class smart ass which meant he couldn't be too bad off.

"You did great Danny." Steve said, relief clear in his voice. Danny stared at him for a moment.

"Why do you have that face? 'M not sure what to call this one, but you definitely got a face. And you look like you 'aven't been sleeping."

"You got hurt pretty bad Danny. You've been out for about three weeks. But now that you're done scaring the hell out of us all, maybe we can all sleep tonight."

"Three weeks? Remind me again what 'appened. Last I 'member I was doing paperwork on that Hernandez case." Steve felt another wave of relief wash over him. That had been only minutes the explosion.

"Well, after you finished your paperwork, you went down the car and when you pressed the unlock button, it triggered a bomb. We found the guy who planted it. Just some local wack job with a grudge against cops. Anyway, the blast threw you back against the bulding and you cracked your head pretty bad." Steve continued to tell Danny about his injuries. Whe he was finished, Danny chewed his lip.

"Damn…"

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up Danno." Danny gave him the most penetrating once over he could muster with his fuzzy head.

"Thank you Steve. I mean it. Thank you for saving me."

"How do you know it was me? It could have been Chin, Kono, or the EMTs. Contrary to your opinion of me, I'm not superman."

"Oh please. You're the only one who would know how to treat blast injuries and shrapnel wounds. I know that must've been hard for you. Prob'ly a lotta shit you didn't wanna remember but did for me. Maybe you're not superman, but you you're still a hero. So thank you." Steve didn't know what to say. After a moment, he spoke with a voice thick with emotion.

"I just wanted…needed this time to be different. Every time I've seen this, I always failed. I would try everything, but I just couldn't save them."

"Hey, you save me, man. You made it different." They shared a smile, then Danny drifted back to sleep. Two months later, they were on Steve's lanai, having the barbecue they never got around to. They laughed and toasted to Danny's health. As the doctor had said, the recovery was long and hard, but with the help of his unorthodox family, Danny made it back to where he was before. Steve had helped him every step of the way. He had made it different. This time, he had saved his soldier.

**Hope you guys liked it!**


End file.
